Digital Services will support the University’s call to pursue economies and efficiencies which will enable internal reallocation of resources and lead to quality improvements by…

a) Continuing to regularly evaluate all workflows to seek methods of improvement

Measurement: at least one workflow improvement will be identified and implemented within the coming year.

Progress:

September 2012: we clarified the roles for usage of blog, Facebook and Twitter to reduce duplication of effort and leverage each social media platform to best effect.

September 2012: developed software tool, name_stats.rbw, for use when generating monthly count statistics. This tool automatically tallies number of items and number of subitems per collection from a text file containing a list of standard Acumen filenames.

September 2012: shared analysis of project management tools with OLT and associate dean

November 2012: developed semi-automated tracking method for capturing/tracking offline digitization and incorporating it into the monthly count; developed comparison of monthly snapshots to provide monthly update report.

b) Testing new monthly report interface for staff members to improve internal evaluations and monitoring

Measurement: all staff will provide monthly reports using the new report interface for 6 months, reporting any issues or drawbacks in their experience. Supervisors will monitor these reports and identify any problems or needs for improvement.
At the end of 6 months, Digital Services will provide a written report to their AD on the pros/cons of this method of monthly reports.

Progress:

September 2012: Updates to Shift reporter interface include capture of goal alignment data within a shift record, bug fix to editing date field, and fixes to increase the initial load time of the application. All staff members utilized shift report interface, and reported on issues to be resolved.

November 2012: adapted Shift reporter to include stats for offline digitization, to be pulled into monthly report

c) Modifying quality control processes to ensure team members are accountable to each other, to ensure quality production and avoid repair work

Measurement: Each staff member will be required to provide QC for content performed by other staff members, and to provide feedback on any problems found, copying supervisors on the results. The person whose digitization is being evaluated will correct any problems, and then the reviewer will again QC the content, cc’ing supervisors. In this manner, peer feedback will inform the training of each staff member to improve quality. Supervisors will review QC reports to verify that recurring problems are diminishing, and that this method of feedback is helpful. At the end of 6 months, Digital Services will provide a written report to their AD on the pros/cons of this method of peer QC feedback.

Progress:

September 2012: wiki documentation of QC processes updated to reflect new policies. New standards set for folder renaming to reflect status of content. Policy established to require notification to supervisor if excessive errors are found during recheck, or if similar problems recur after first recheck. Recheck time is set for after preparation for upload, so entire set of directories is checked, not just scans, to prevent upload errors.

October 2012: practiced new policies, and updated wiki with instructions for folder renaming, and more process detail.

d) Adding 3-month evaluation of new employees and additional review of all work during the initial 6 month period, with quarterly reviews of work thereafter

Measurement: Results of these reviews will be tracked in a spreadsheet, to assist in annual reviews. New employees who are failing to meet our needs will be dismissed at 3 months instead of at 6 months. Any problems which are uncovered will be remediated before they become huge; thus one measurement is the lack of large problems or problematic employees at the end of one year.

Progress:

November 2012: 3 month evaluation of new Digitization Outreach Coordinator.

e) Performing a user study with faculty researchers to determine their needs for access to and use of online primary source materials; this will inform our development focus and perhaps enable us to reduce some efforts where they are not needed

Measurement: An IRB protocol will be submitted. All involved staff will complete Human Subjects Research training certification. If IRB protocol is approved, and appropriate faculty are identified by subject liaisons and curators, all identified faculty will be contacted with information and an invitation. All such faculty who accept the invitation will be interviewed in spring 2013. Results of the interviews will be analyzed and presented (if accepted) at the 2013 fall SAA conference.

Progress:

September 2012: IRB protocol has been drafted, submitted, and then revised and resubmitted in response to reviewer comments. All staff involved have completed Human Subjects Research training and obtained certification. IRB protocol was approved. Contacted curators and subject liaisons to solicit names of potential participants.

October 2012: Collected names and emails of potential contacts into single spreadsheet

November 2012: Contacted potential participants with informed consent form and requested participation. Fielded questions from potential candidates and collected responses.

f) Digitizing special collections materials for online delivery; this enables students, faculty and researchers to utilize special collections online, instead of requiring personal attention and library staffing and extended hours. Additionally, this protects the original materials by reducing handling during use, ensuring they last longer.

October 2012: 125 new items, 8719 captures made. Still repairing problems. More problematic repairs being addressed.

November 2012: Staff trained by archivists in methods of handling fragile materials.

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g) Researching the feasibility for implementation of semantic web/linked data capabilities over our digitized content, to facilitate use and discovery and potentially reduce redundancy of information and propagation of errors

Measurement: A model will be developed and tested over a circumscribed set of parameters utilizing controlled vocabulary content already in use.

Progress:

September 2012: held discussion with metadata librarians and an archivist about the feasibility of setting up something for the civil war sesquicentennial around correspondence and diaries, battlefield locations and dates, and what functionality might be useful.

October-November 2012: Studying possibilities and what others have done.

h) Assessing and selecting appropriate information for preservation and management of digital content to support long-term use, and identifying how best to capture and store this information, to ensure our investment in digitization is not wasted.

Measurement: Standardized Image and Audio schema profiles will be developed; software will be developed to capture as much of this information as is feasible; information which must be manually entered will be identified; reasonable workflows will be developed to capture this information as well.

Progress:

Awaiting filling Digitization Technologist position.

Digital Services will increase the number of students it reaches through its programs and services by…

a) Engaging with GIS to develop a 15-minute module on Acumen for targeted UG English courses which require research into humanities

Measurement: One 15-minute module will be created within the coming year.

Progress:

b) Engaging with subject liaison(s) to assist in providing support for libguide development

Measurement: Digitization Outreach Coordinator will meet with at least one subject liaison to identify needs and develop collaboration.
Requests from subject liaisons for identification of appropriate Acumen content will be responded to with helpful results within one week.

Progress:

September 2012: List of suggested content was sent to subject liaison within 2 days of request. Digitization Outreach Coordinator met with subject liaison.

c) Continuing to seek new and better methods for access and usability of online content

Measurement: At least one new model for browsing online materials will be developed and tested within the coming year. If approved, browse options for selected image collections by location (already developed) will be added to public web pages.

Progress:

September 2012: requested approval of use of map browsing of images at Digital Programs meeting

November 2012: Requested again

d) Posting updates about content and initiatives to Twitter

Measurement: Twitter account will be created; updates will be posted at least weekly; number of “followers” will determine level of success

Measurement: New content will be rotated into the tagging/transcription interfaces each semester; tags/transcriptions inserted there will be available in Acumen for search and retrieval on a regular basis.

Progress:

September 2012: Content selected by curators rotated into tagging/transcription software. Tags/transcripts from previous content harvested, logged, and added to Acumen and archive.

Digital Services will increase awareness and knowledge of its collections and e-resources among graduate students and faculty members by...

a) Engaging with GIS to provide guidance on how and when to use Acumen, and how to provide instruction on use when working with faculty and students

Measurement: Digitization Outreach Coordinator will meet with GIS staff in September 2012; written evaluations of this meeting by participants will be solicited and reviewed.

Progress:

September 2012: Digitization Outreach Coordinator met with entire GIS staff and provided presentation of how to use Acumen and what it contains. She obtained evaluations of her presentation.

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b) Continuing to post informative, entertaining blog/Facebook entries

Measurement: At least one informative, entertaining blog/Facebook entry will be posted weekly about new or existing content or DS initiatives/workflows.

Progress:

Postings are made weekly. DS head reviews them.

c) Continuing to provide sitemaps to search engines to index items and finding aids so they can be found online

Measurement: Google Analytics and Web Tools results will be reviewed at least quarterly to address any problems that arise, and to measure impact on access statistics.

Progress:

September 2012: Google Analytics and Web Tools reviewed, and found no unexpected problems.

d) Continuing to provide monthly updates of content in Acumen to Curators, Metadata Unit, and others who request notifications

Measurement: monthly updates will occur.

Progress:

Postings are sent out monthly.

Digital Services will support the coordination/prioritization of programs and services promoted through a full range of public relations initiatives by ...

a) Channeling all proposals which may impact multiple departments through the Digital Programs group and then the Proposal form

Measurement: Digital Services will propose 2 or more projects to Digital Programs within the next year. If approved, Digital Services will then enter them into the Proposal form and submit.

Progress:

September 2012: proposed map project, which would entail metadata librarians determining what metadata to capture and how; DS folk locating a student to create the metadata and a faculty member willing to give the student credit for it, then overseeing metadata creation and making derivatives; and web services modifying search and display so content is accessible. We agreed to wait until spring 2013 to ask if web services thinks this is feasible. If so, we will propose the project officially.

b) Posting notifications to UALIB and/or the intranet about any new or upcoming initiatives which may impact others in the libraries

Measurement: Any new initiatives at Digital Services which may impact others in the libraries will appear in postings to UALIB and/or the intranet.

Progress:

September 2012: sent notifications to Digital Humanities listserv and subject liaisons of wiki page of resources for content creators.

October 2012: posted it to intranet.

c) Supporting the development of technical and support infrastructure for the developing E-Science initiative

Measurement: DS Head will participate as requested in E-Science meetings and planning sessions, and will respond in a timely manner to requests for software development support and analysis

Progress:

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Digital Services will foster an environment of improved two-way communication and collaboration by…

a) Continuing to share information of current policies, procedures and methods on our wiki

Measurement: All new and modified policies and procedures will be posted to the DS wiki

Progress:

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b) Participating in committees and meetings on the library and university level

Measurement: DS staff/faculty will attend University and library committee/other meetings as appropriate.